Keltic Kitchen’s huge portions are served with cheer

By Laurie HigginsContributing Writer

As my husband and I sat at a table in the Keltic Kitchen in West Yarmouth, both of us wondered how we had never been there before. The charming cottage-style restaurant is plenty cozy, with wood wainscoting and walls covered with photos and Irish memorabilia. A large counter is inviting and seemed to be the place to hang for locals. Service was impeccable. All of those things seemed reason enough to visit –and then we saw the menu.

It is heavy on breakfast items and all of them sounded amazing. Honestly, it was hard to choose what to order. We happened to be dining at noon, and we arrived thinking we would order breakfast – until our server Mari mentioned that the Reuben ($8.99) was the best in the world according to her two Irish sons.

Tips from servers are always game changers for my husband, so he happily switched gears from breakfast to lunch. The Reuben really was amazing. Rather than being constructed in separate layers, tender thin slices of corned beef were mixed with sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing in a way that ensured you got an even mixture of all flavors in every bite. The Swiss cheese held it all together despite the size of the sandwich, which was so enormous my husband could only finish half of it.

Best of all, was the Irish brown bread. Thick slices of homemade bread made for a perfect combination. Happily, my potato cake salmon Benny ($9.99) came with the same brown bread toasted. Smoked Atlantic salmon and shaved white onions were nestled between two huge potato pancakes. The potato pancakes were grilled to golden perfection and topped with perfectly poached eggs, hollandaise sauce and sautéed capers.

It was delicious, but again the meal was too large to do it justice. I managed to eat about half of it, but I savored every bite.

Since we didn’t know that our meals were going to be so large, we started with an order of sweet potato munchkins ($4.99). The platter of homemade doughnut holes arrived hot out of the fryer. They were immediately rolled in powdered sugar that melted to create a glaze. They were a bit dense in texture for our taste, but we’re not big doughnut eaters.

With huge portions of homemade food at fabulous prices, the Keltic Kitchen is a classic. Breakfast is served all day and the menu is huge. In addition to Irish staples, there are plenty of intriguing choices. Items that tantalized included lemon blueberry ricotta pancakes and crème brûlée French toast made with Portuguese sweet bread to ensure we will be back.